What's in a Name

Published: August 11, 2005

When Harvey Weinstein broke with the Walt Disney Company this year, ''the toughest part of the entire negotiation,'' he said, was handing over the name of his studio, Miramax -- a combination of his parents' names, Miriam and Max. But Jane Pratt, the founder of Jane magazine, might have it worse. It was announced this week that Ms. Pratt is leaving the top job at Jane, which will keep her name but will now be edited by a woman named Brandon.

A man or woman's good name, Shakespeare wrote, is the ''immediate jewel of their souls.'' But that was before the branding craze kicked in and turned a person's good name into just another corporate asset. When Martha Stewart was indicted, she gave up the titles of chief executive and chairman of the board of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. The last word on all things Martha became one Sharon Patrick, to whom Ms. Stewart formally reported.

Real names are catching up with fictional names, which have long been passed around. The Dear Abby Web site contains the perplexing disclaimer that ''Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips.'' Edward Klein, the author of a trashy new book on Hillary Clinton, writes the Walter Scott's Personality Parade column, which was originally written by Lloyd Shearer.

In his early stand-up days, Woody Allen had a routine about incorporating as a business for tax reasons. He appointed members of his family as officers and directors, and they started trying to squeeze him out. These days, that is not such a far-fetched notion.

There are, however, ways of fighting back. Steve Herrell, the Boston-area ice-cream impresario who is credited with inventing the ''smoosh-in'' -- candy, nuts or other treats mixed into ice cream by hand -- sold his ice cream stores and their name, Steve's Ice Cream. But leveraging the part of his name that he still owned, he turned around and started an ice cream company called Herrell's.

If Ms. Pratt is not happy with how Jane is run, she can always start a new magazine called Pratt -- or Brandon.